Clinton Foundation to Join College Newspapers to Raise Awareness for Prescription Drug Misuse on College Campuses

New York, NY

Press Release

The Clinton Foundation has launched a campaign to ask that college newspapers join us in raising awareness about an important issue facing college campuses- prescription drug misuse. On December 4th, the Clinton Foundation is asking hundreds of college and university newspapers to publish a story—a feature piece, an editorial, or an op-ed—about this epidemic. Together, these articles will attract much-needed attention to prescription drug misuse, and help us educate more students. Will you join us to help stop this epidemic by publishing an article in your university paper?

More people in the US died last year of drug overdoses than died in car accidents, making prescription drug misuse the third leading cause of accidental death. In the last 20 years, the consumption of prescription stimulants increased from 5 million to45 million. In the US,one person dies every 19 minutesfrom a drug overdose, and overdoses involving prescription painkillers now kill more Americans than those involving heroin and cocaine combined.

This tragedy disproportionately affects college students. Between 1993 and 2005, the proportion of college students using prescription drugs went up dramatically: use of opioids such as Vicodin, Oxycontin, and Percocetincreased by343 percent, and use of stimulants like Ritalin or Adderallincreased by93 percent. The Clinton Health Matters Initiative aims to cut in half the number of young people (18 to 26-years-old) misusing prescription drugs for the first time, focusing especially on college campuses, by recruiting schools to join our effort. This can save approximately 10,000 lives.

Please let us know if you plan on writing a piece by contacting[email protected], so we can keep track of this campaign and share your story. We ask that you please include the Clinton Foundation’s name and website in your piece, and, to share your story with others once published, please use the hashtag #healthoncampus and tweet to the Clinton Foundation’s account,@clintonfdn. For more information on our work, please visit our website atwww.clintonfoundation.org.